HULL, Jonathan 1960(?)-

PERSONAL: Born c. 1960; married; children.

ADDRESSES: Agent—c/o Author Mail, St. Martin's Press, 175 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10010.

CAREER: Time magazine, 1985-95, member of Los Angeles bureau staff for approximately three years, chief of Jerusalem bureau for three years, and chief of Chicago bureau for four years. Freelance writer, 1995—.

WRITINGS:

Losing Julia (novel), Delacorte (New York, NY), 2000.

The Distance from Normandy (novel), St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2003.

WORK IN PROGRESS: Another novel about World War II, this time told from the viewpoint of a female character.

SIDELIGHTS: After working as a Time magazine bureau chief for several major international cities for several years, journalist Jonathan Hull left his job in 1995 to pursue a career as a freelance writer. After several years of nerve-wracking labor, he produced two critically acclaimed novels, Losing Julia and The Distance from Normandy. "I enjoyed the work I did for Time," the author told Tom Walker in the Denver Post, "but I started to feel frustrated by the constraints of journalism. In many ways, it's easier to get at the truth with fiction than nonfiction because you can reveal things that we dare not in our day-to-day lives." Having covered stories about the Gulf War and battles between Arabs and Israelis in the Middle East, Hull has an intimate knowledge of war, which he draws on for his books. Both of his novels feature characters who have known the tragedy of war and who are haunted by those memories.

Losing Julia is about World War I veteran Patrick Delaney and his unrequited love for Julia, the fiancée of Patrick's war buddy Daniel, who was killed in action. Alternating between three different time periods, the novel flits between Delaney's time fighting in the war; his visit to a war memorial in France ten years after the war where he meets Julia and has a brief affair despite his married status; and his final days in a retirement home where he is struggling with his own mortality and memories of Julia. Critics praised Hull's handling of several themes at once—aging, love, war—and his skill in juggling different settings. Observing that Losing Julia is both a love story and a coming-of-age tale, January Online reviewer Linda Richards admired how Hull describes "the inevitable humiliations of advancing age" and how Delaney comes to terms with "the changes that the war, and later love, are bringing him." Richards concluded that Losing Julia "is a triumph. A wonderful novel." Similarly, a Publishers Weekly writer described it as an "earnest, elegant first novel," and Booklist contributor Danise Hoover asserted that Hull is "engaging and particularly effective in describing the horrors of trench warfare."

The Distance from Normandy also features a war veteran, this time a World War II survivor named Mead. Mead is still mourning the death of his wife from cancer when his daughter calls him for a favor. Her son, Andrew, has been kicked out of school for possessing a knife, and she thinks it would be beneficial for Andrew if he spent some time with Mead. Mead agrees, and he takes the teenager on a trip to Normandy as an opportunity to teach the boy about life and the consequences of violence. There are inevitable battles of will between the two as they fight across the generation gap, with each eventually learning from the other. "While plot and storyline are critical to any book's success," commented Carol Fitzgerald in a review of The Distance from Normandy for Bookreporter.com, "Hull's true skill comes from how he writes character and emotion. His style captivates his readers and immediately draws them into the story. As he did in Losing Julia, Hull captures the indignity of growing old. Here he also captures the pressures of being young."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

periodicals

Booklist, November 15, 1999, Danise Hoover, review of Losing Julia, p. 580.

Chicago Tribune, February 27, 2000, Charles R. Eisendrath, "A Strong First Novel Probes the Unfairness of Love and War," p. 4.

Denver Post, February 20, 2000, Tom Walker, "Time Journalist Quit to Follow Fiction Muse; 'Losing Julia' a Thoughtful Take on Love, Regret," p. G3.

Library Journal, September 1, 2000, Barbara Valle, review of Losing Julia, p. 270.

Publishers Weekly, January 3, 2000, review of Losing Julia, p. 55.

online

BookPage.com, http://www.bookpage.com/ (May 18, 2000), Deanna Larson, review of Losing Julia.

Bookreporter.com, http://www.bookreporter.com/ (July 12, 2004), Carol Fitzgerald, review of The Distance from Normandy; (July 12, 2004) "Jonathan Hull."

January Online, http://www.januarymagazine.com/ (May 18, 2000), Linda Richards, "Trench Dreams."*